To help the child see the logical agreement between noun and adjective.

Control of Error

The directress

Age

5 years onwards

Materials

- A container marked with the adjective symbol in which are two sets of cards of twelve to fourteen each. One set has black cards on which a noun has been printed in white ink. The other set has blue cards on which an adjective has been printed in white ink. Each noun must have at least one adjective, which makes sense with it, e.g. blue sky, hard rock, soft pillow, hot water, etc.

Presentation 1

Have the child take out each card and read it out loud Then have the child place them in columns.

Explain any word the child does not know.

Place the stack of blue cards in front of the child.

Have the child read these out loud and place one to the left of each of the black cards.

Explain any words the child does not know.

Go through and read each pair.

Listen with the child to see if the two words put together go together and make sense. If the child strongly believes that the two words go together but you don’t agree, have the child defend his thinking by asking him where he would see it or what that would look like.

If the adjective and noun do not make sense together, such as “ugly water” or “clear cat” pull the adjective out of the column and place them in a stack.

Once the child has gone through all of the cards, pick up the stack of non-matching adjectives and in a sort of game, have the child replace these cards with a noun so it makes sense.

Once done, ask the child which color cards tell us what something is. (The black cards)

Have the child place the large black triangle on top of each column of black cards.

Then ask the child which cards tell us “what kind” it is. (The blue cards)

Then have the child place the dark blue triangle at the top of each column of blue cards.

Then replace the symbols back and collect the cards by color.

Exercise

The child can work alone as shown in the presentation.

Presentation 2

Place the two stacks of cards in a line to the left of the table.

Have the child choose the top black card at the top of the table.

Then have the child pick up the blue cards and place the top one to the left of the black card.

Have the child read the two cards.

If it sounds right, move the black card down one line and place the next blue card from the stack to its left.

See if this blue card pt together with the black card also makes sense.

If the card does not make sense, place the blue card off to the left of the table.

Keep going in this way until the child has gone through all of the blue cards.

Bring the child’s attention to how many of the blue cards can tell us something about the black card.

Then collect all of the blue cards and place the black card off to the side.

Repeat in this way for all of the black cards.

Exercise 1

The child can work alone as shown in the presentation.

Exercise 2

The child can make a booklet through transcription. Each page would have one noun and all of the adjectives that go with it.